How To Brew Super-Strong Coffee At Home Without A Fancy Machine

Paige Cooperstein

Saturday

Nov 30, 2013 at 1:00 PM

Forget the rumors you've heard about making an espresso on your stove top.

According to Darleen Scherer, the co-owner of Brooklyn-based Gorilla Coffee, that's technically just brewed coffee, since the brewer can't control the pressure of the steam — an essential part of making espresso.

"You really need a consistent temperature and pressure that you can only get from a so-called fancy machine," Scherer told Business Insider.

So what's a coffee snob to do when he or she wants a quick fix from home?

Scherer had two recommendations for concentrated coffee, a stronger dose than regularly brewed coffee that can substitute for espresso in a pinch. One brew method's fast while the other's slow, but yields a larger volume.

AeroPress

Brew time: About one minute

How-to: Insert coffee grounds into the chamber, add heated water, put the plunger on top of the AeroPress and slowly press down. The farther down you press, the more bitterness you extract from the grounds.

Difference from regular brew: The press extracts coffee across an equal surface area instead of over-extracting from the sides and center like a drip-brew.

Cold Brew

Brew time: 18 - 24 hours

How-to: Steep rough coffee grounds in cold or room temperature water overnight or longer, depending on how strong you want the flavor. A Toddy set is a typical tool for cold brewing. Once brewed, some grounds have to be filtered out of the coffee. Then the extra brew can be stored in the fridge for about a week for quick coffee later.

Difference from regular brew: It has a concentrated flavor, but cold brewing doesn't extract the acids from the coffee bean, making it less bitter.

See Also:

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